


End Of The Movie

by I_Already_Forgot



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Climbing Class, Everyone survived the mountain, Fix-it fic, Horror, Hurt/Comfort, Lots of Angst, M/M, Slow Burn, Wendigo josh fic, chris/josh - Freeform, eventually, exorjosh AU kind of, nothing worse than whats in the game though, there's some pretty intense gore in here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:28:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23408302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Already_Forgot/pseuds/I_Already_Forgot
Summary: Chris made a promise and he intends to keep it. He's going to find Josh and bring him home, dead or alive, no matter what. He's going back to the mountain.
Relationships: Chris Hartley/Josh Washington
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	End Of The Movie

The fluorescents buzz overhead like giant discontented insects. Everything is beige here, the walls, the art on the wall, the air itself. Everything tastes stale and distant, and the quiet is suffocating, so Chris squeaks the rubber soles of his boots against the linoleum floor in an alternating pattern. He’d wished so desperately for just a moment of peace over the past 24 hours, but now that he has it it feels stagnant and nauseating.

He scratches the ridged texture of the plastic chair he’s sitting on and he notices for the first time that his fingers don’t feel quite right. He inspects his left hand and realizes that his fingernails are all cracked and broken, packed with dirt and blood. His index fingernail is missing entirely. He vaguely wonders if all of this blood is his own, but decides that there’s no real way to be sure. His joints all still feel stiff from the cold despite being in a heated building for over three hours. He knows that he should be in pain right now. He thought that he would be. But everything feels muffled, like a bad connection on a television. It’s all coming in static.

He can’t remember a time he’s ever felt this exhausted yet painfully restless. He bounces his good leg, scrapes at his filthy jeans, picks some dried blood out of his hair. He thinks about checking his phone, that’s what he usually does the moment his mind begins to wander; but for some reason the thought of even pulling it out of his pocket makes him sick to his stomach. It would be too normal. His lock screen is a photo of Sam, Ashley, Josh and himself at the beach. His text messages are the same ignorant shit he’d sent on the shuttle up to the mountain. He’ll still have notifications set to remind him to study for the calculus test he has coming up and to call his grandmother to wish her a happy birthday. Everything seems so goddamn insignificant now, so mocking. The people in those pictures are just memories. The things he used to prioritize feel shallow and pointless.

Chris digs his fingernails into his legs, he tugs roughly at his hair, scrubs at his eyes. He can’t stop thinking about how all of this is the same as before. After the night that Hannah and Beth died the rest of them all got to leave the mountain, got to try and heal and move on. But Josh didn’t. He was left to try and pick up the pieces in that cold lonely place while the people closest to him, the people responsible for it, all walked away to greener pastures. They’d abandoned him then and they’ve abandoned him now.

Chris has only made one promise in his life that really mattered and he’d broken it at the worst possible moments. He shouldn’t be here. _He shouldn’t fucking be here._

Chris was never the impulsive one. Or at least, he didn't used to be. That was always Josh’s job. Chris is the awkward dorky one, always too afraid to jump because he’s calculated every possible way he might fall. Josh is the one who leaps without looking. He can afford to. Literally and figuratively. 

Aside from murder, Chris doesn’t think there’s any scandal his parents wouldn’t be able to buy their way out of. Not that money is required too often. Josh is an expert at talking himself out of bad situations. He’s charming and charismatic in a way that Chris can never pull off, and he inexplicably makes you want to get in his good graces. He makes people feel special even when they aren’t.

Josh always claims that his popularity is only due to his fortune, but Chris knows that it’s more than that. It’s the way he smiles at a person and listens intently to everything they say. It’s the way he draws in an entire room when he enters and the casual way he shrugs it off like he doesn’t even care. He comes across as caring and genuine but at the same time mysterious. 

Even long before his sisters’ deaths you could tell there was a hidden darkness underneath the friendly exterior and it weirdly made you want to get closer, although Josh rarely allows it.

Chris will never admit it out loud, but he’s certain that Josh’s looks play an equal part as well. He’s disarmingly handsome to an infuriating degree. His crooked smile and big doe eyes make it nearly impossible to stay angry at him for long, even in the aftermath of some of his worst pranks. Chris had realized it some time around middle school and grown equal parts jealous and mesmerized. Josh seemed to notice the effects his looks have on others around this time as well and he wasted no time in taking full advantage.

Even most of the teachers held a significant soft spot for Josh despite his ADHD frequently interrupting class on a near constant basis. It might’ve been due to the large donations the Washington family offered up every year, but Chris honestly thinks it’s more about the natural energy Josh exudes at all times. Either way, Josh was rarely sent to detention unless his pranks got too out of control. One of the only times Chris has ever seen Josh really get yelled at was when he’d covered their science teacher’s desk in shaving cream. It must’ve taken Josh hours and dozens of cans because the desk had been completely invisible, submerged in a towering pile of white that was only a foot away from reaching the ceiling. Chris had laughed until he’d hurt himself and now the memory leaves a painful ache in his chest. Chris always wondered how he’d pulled that one off, but Josh would never give him any details.

He’d just wink and shrug as he said, “It’s better not to reveal the man behind the curtain.”

Josh said that often and it drove Chris insane. As they grew older he began to realize that it applied to a lot more than Josh’s pranks. Was that always how josh saw himself? The man behind the curtain, the director of his own life?

Chris likes to think he sees more of Josh than most people do. Perhaps more than anyone. Josh doesn’t like most people, he finds them boring or pointless and he tells Chris this often. He stays in their good graces because it makes his life easier, not because he genuinely wants their approval. Josh has a few niche interests that he devotes all of his energy to and the rest he just sees as a means to get to the things he really wants.

Josh loves all things involving cinema. Directing, special effects, movie makeup, props, lighting, it all utterly fascinates him, and he has dozens of notebooks filled with notes and ideas for films and scenes. He’s always been particularly enthralled by classic horror films and Chris can’t even count how many hours they must’ve spent at sleepovers watching them over and over. Josh can never watch one straight through either, he’ll pause every ten minutes or so and excitedly explain how they’d rigged the animatronics for that particular shot, or the type of latex they’d used to make it appear like realistic human skin. He always says how he likes the old movies better because they couldn’t lean on CGI. It was all practical effects and it relied entirely on the director in order to make it look believable. He says it was all about creativity and craftsmanship rather than money or shortcuts. Chris has never been as into it as Josh, but he enjoys seeing his best friend get so excited and genuinely passionate over something. To Chris the movies are simply campy and entertaining, a fun way to spend time with his best bro. To Josh they are a way of life, a religion.

Chris thinks that perhaps Josh’s interest originally started as a way to be closer with his father who’s a big name director in the horror movie industry. Josh had garnered little success in this respect, but he must’ve realized his own intense passion for directing somewhere along the way. Chris has always been a bit jealous of Josh’s intense passion and drive. He’s always been so sure of what he wants to do with his life, of what makes him happy and what doesn’t. It’s part of what makes his personality so attractive to people, Chris thinks. His confidence and his passion.

Josh also likes pranks. He loves forming intricate plans, he loves feeling like a puppet master, even in the most mundane ways. He has sketchbooks filled with endless drawings and notes on how to pull off the most ridiculous, pointless things. He told Chris once that it felt like he was setting a stage. Chris often wondered whether he should be concerned over the fact that Josh thinks of everyone else as an audience.

Chris mostly loves Josh’s pranks, even when they’re on him. They’re well thought out and intricately planned down to every detail. They’re designed to be clever and funny rather than humiliating or painful. They just made life less predictable, more interesting. Josh always has a way of doing that.

The third thing that seems to hold Josh’s interest, for reasons Chris can never understand, is himself. They’d become friends in third grade and Josh seemed to take an immediate liking to him. Chris had assumed that Josh’s interest would fade rather quickly. He never considered himself particularly special or interesting in any way. He’s dorky and awkward and people often accuse him of living in his own head most of the time. He constantly cracks jokes as a defense mechanism during any situation that becomes even slightly too intense or personal. He’s too quiet unless someone mentions one of his interests and then he can’t figure out how to shut himself up. Most people find him annoying or off-putting. Chris never thought that Josh of all people would think of him in any other light.

Josh had been held back a grade for some reason so he was a year older than everyone else and was seen as somewhat of a celebrity. He was outspoken and confident, well liked and wealthy, he was a troublemaker but he always seemed to get away with it. They had virtually nothing in common and Chris couldn’t understand why he would want anything to do with him.

But everyday Josh would sit with him at lunch and he’d actually listen to Chris when he rambled about the latest video game software, he’d laugh at his bad jokes and he’d share the various goodies his nanny had packed in his lunchbox. One day at recess he’d stopped them on their way toward the basketball court and fixed Chris with an intense stare. Chris had been sure that this was it, this was the moment where Josh finally ditched him for someone better.

Josh had been missing a tooth in the front and poked his tongue through it in the way he always did when he was really focusing. He opened his mouth and Chris braced for the worst, but instead Josh had asked him in a deeply serious tone if Chris would be his best friend.

Chris had been shocked to say the least. He’d never been best friends with anyone before, let alone someone like Josh. He felt weirdly blessed and he didn’t know what to say so he’d simply nodded his head dumbly. Josh had quirked a disbelieving eyebrow at him and narrowed his gaze as he said, “There’s no backsies Chris, this is for _life._ _No matter what._ You have to _promise_.”

Chris had swallowed nervously and nodded his head as he replied sincerely, “I promise.”

Josh had flashed him a huge smile then and spit into the palm of his hand and held it out as he said decisively, “Best friends for life.”

Chris had cringed at the offered appendage but after a moment of hesitation spit into his own hand and gripped Josh’s before giving it three firm shakes.

Chris had promised. No matter what, no matter what, _no matter what._ He’d _promised._

So why isn’t Josh sitting here next to him in the dreary waiting room of this police station?

Because Chris had abandoned him. Because he’d made the decision to leave him in that shed with Mike. Because the sight of his best friend tied up and babbling incoherently, spitting words meant to cut and burn, was too painful for him. Because Chris was weak and hurt and he wanted to go back to the comfort of the lodge and the others. Because he wanted to ease the aching in his chest, if only a little bit, rather than stay and protect the best friend he’s ever had. His best friend that was clearly off his meds, who needed him more than ever. Chris chose to run away, like he always does when things get hard.

Not anymore, Chris tells himself. Never again. He makes a vow to himself right here and now as he sits in this hard plastic chair and waits to be interrogated for the third time. He swears to whatever god is listening that he will rescue Josh Washington.

Mike said that he’d seen him alive down in the mines. He said that he’d been taken by one of those horrible creatures. But taken doesn’t mean dead, and Chris isn’t going to give up on his best friend, not like he had before. Even if it’s a suicide mission, he knows he won’t be able to live with himself if he doesn’t try.

Chris has never been a risk taker, never been one to leap without looking, but this time he’s going right over the edge.

He is going to find Josh, alive or dead. No matter what, he is going to bring him home. He is going back to the mountain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note:  
> Fanfic title from the song "End Of The movie" by Cake.  
> Because I swear to god that song is written about Josh Washington.
> 
> Hoo boy, I've had this fanfic in my drafts for AGES. I'm really excited to finally start posting it and I'll try my best to keep updates semi-regular. Josh Washington is one of my all time favorite characters and I'm so excited to finally be posting a fanfic about him. I'm gonna try and keep chapters for this fic a bit shorter than what I usually post because I really want to update quickly. They'll be longer than this chapter though, this is just sort of a teaser. I've been in this fandom for so long and I hardly ever see new content anymore but I still think about these characters all the time and am super excited to finally post something!  
> -Maddy


End file.
